OKC Thunder 8 most costly losses of 2017-18 season

December 16th, at New York Knicks

The Thunder played a triple overtime classic with the Philadelphia 76ers the night prior and were without Steven Adams who was lost due to a concussion. Yet at the same time the Knicks were without their lone all-star Kristaps Porzingis.

This was Carmelo Anthony‘s first and only game inside Madison Square Garden this season. The Knicks took the classy route as an organization and gave Melo the hometown shout out during the starting lineups.

Yet, much like Paul George‘s return to Indiana, Melo’s return fell flat. Carmelo scored only 12 points on 5-18 (27.8 percent) shooting in 32 minutes, with five fouls. Former Thunder player and fan favorite Enes Kanter did not have his best performance either scoring 10 points. While pulling down only five rebounds his sixth fewest all season.

The star of the night was former second overall draft pick Michael Beasley.

Beasley put on quite the show scoring 30 points on 11-18 (61.1 percent) shooting. What made this game particularly disturbing was witnessing Michael Beasley beasting from all areas offensively. In contrast the Knicks repeatedly baited Anthony into playing via isolation sets while his teammates stood watching him.

The Thunder ultimately lost by 15 points and maybe it simply wasn’t Oklahoma City’s  night. Yet, on a night the Knicks were without Porzingis OKC should have at least kept the game competitive.

Arguably one positive which filtered down from the loss was Anthony recognized the need for his role change within OKC’s offense And, the results once implemented, paid immediate dividends.